Scottish Film Events: May 2022

It’s gauche, but screw it: we’re beginning this month’s Film Event Column with some shameless self-promotion. On 18 May we’re launching the CineSkinny Film Club at Summerhall in Edinburgh. We’re going to be screening a programme of the soulful short films of talented Glasgow writer-director James Price alongside the Safdie Brothers' breakneck crime thriller Good Time. It’s a feature that we feel chimes well with Price’s poetic aesthetic, which blends gritty realism with a real style and swagger. Price will be joining us for a Q&A following the mini-retrospective; we hope you can join us too.

If you’re interested in other great Scottish short films, get yourself to Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s Made in Scotland night (13 May, CCA Glasgow). The eclectic selection features shorts rooted in personal experiences that explore various themes, and includes excellent films like Douglas King’s Do No Harm, Sean Lìonadh’s Too Rough, and Maryam Hamidi’s Bahar in the lineup.

There are plenty more film highlights at SMHAF, including the premiere of A Way From Rage, a collaboration between filmmakers Adura Onashile and Laura Cameron-Lewis and singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph, which pays tribute to the late Beldina Odenyo Onassis (aka Heir of the Cursed). A Way From Rage is part of the opening event Gathering (4 May, CCA Glasgow) – full details at mhfestival.com

The Italian Film Festival (20 to 29 May) returns with screenings at Filmhouse, GFT, DCA, Belmont Filmhouse and Eden Court Theatre, running 20 to 29 May. A highlight will surely be The Hole, the much anticipated new film by Michelangelo Frammartino (Le Quattro Volte), while there’s plenty of classic Italian cinema on offer too, with retrospective screenings celebrating the work of Monica Vitti and Francesco Rosi. For the full programme and screening times, see the venues’ respective websites.

Talking of great Italians, both GFT and Filmhouse are paying tribute to Italy’s – perhaps the world’s – greatest composer, Ennio Morricone, in May. GFT shows Once Upon a Time in the West (8-9 May), The Mission (15 & 19 May), and The Hateful Eight (22 & 24 May). Filmhouse is truly spoiling Edinburghers, however, with ten Morricone-scored movies, among them The Thing (4-5 May), Days of Heaven (4-5 May), Cinema Paradiso (7-8 May) and The Untouchables (9-10 May).